Lisa's Delusion
by E.B.Smith
Summary: A short story involving Lisa just before her last scene in the first game.


**Lisa:**_ Harry…_

**Harry:**_ Lisa? What happened? Where's Alessa and Dahlia?_

**Lisa:**_ Harry, listen. Something you said before has been bothering me. I just can't get it out of my head._

**Harry:**_ What is it Lisa?_

**Lisa:**_ So I went to look in the basement, even though I was scared as hell. Like you said, there were all these creepy rooms. But nothing really unusual down there. But while I was down there, I got this weird feeling. Like I'd been there before. Like something happened there, but I can't quite remember somehow. What was it? Harry…help me…I'm so scared. I can't take this._

**Harry:**_ It's only a temporary thing. You're in shock from when you were knocked out. Don't fret about it, you'll remember after a while…_

**Lisa:**_ No. You don't understand…_

**Harry:**_ Wait! Where do you think you're going?_

Lisa's frustration was interrupted by the shock of finding herself crossing a suspended walkway of metal that rattled as she jogged to the door on the other side. Though she felt relief when the door took her back to the hospital, the place she was so familiar with, she was haunted by its deterioration and deformity. The once clean, bright walls were black, stained and damp. The tiles that used to echo the pleasant click of her heels was now hovering above a black drop. She remembered that she had enjoyed walking through these corridors, but now, there was nothing but evil that lurked in these shadows. She tried to recall when all this had happened. When did all the people disappear? When did this place become condemned to this hell? And how did these monsters stray into this realm? In the back of her mind, she felt this nagging sensation that told her she knew more, but every time she tried to retrieve the memory, it only pained her that her attempts were useless.

Disorientated by these agonizing questions, she fled through the hospital. She turned a corner and was confronted by someone standing in the darkness. The person staggered forward with a muffled moan. Nurse Hodges. She was a friend of Lisa's from the day she started working at Alchemilla. She was bright faced, cheerful and blessed with hair like molten bronze, but as she came closer it became clear that she was no longer the kind, gentle person Lisa once knew. Her hair hung loose and black with grease and clung to her sweaty grey face. She stumbled with a lame hunch and carried a large mass of living flesh on her back that pulsed as it suckled on her blood. She was no longer human; she was a monster like all the others. Unarmed, Lisa braced herself against the filthy wall and anticipated its attack, but it just continued past her without so much as a glance. Lisa held her breath as she watched the monstrosity come so close and then disappear into the darkness again. Why weren't the monsters attacking her? She didn't understand why the abyss had stretched out and smothered the town before forcibly claiming its residents, and yet didn't reach out with its foreboding hand a take her as well. Why should she be left in limbo? Why was she different?

She roamed the labyrinth of rooms until she saw a faint light leaking out from under one of the many doors. Its warm glow radiated her soul and summoned her with its beckoning promise of life. The sight made her mind cloud for a second with the overwhelming ache of hunger. She pushed it into her unrelenting subconscious and opened the door.

Her boss stood behind a desk with his creased suit and tatty briefcase, consumed by the task of retrieving something in the desk drawer.

'Dr Kaufmann?'

The startled man shook with terror at the sight of her and backed against the wall.

'Dr Kaufmann, it's me, Lisa…I mean, Nurse Garland.'

Lisa slowly approached him, baffled by his fearful response.

'Get away from me!' He demanded, throwing a paperweight at her head. She continued towards him but her shy address was met with fear and violence as he pushed her into a cupboard and let her fall to the floor before rushing out with his briefcase. Distressed by his aggression, she picked herself up and felt the lump on her head. She went to the small mirror mounted on the wall to see the wound but the image was distorted and ugly. Was that her? As she struggled to recognise the deformed figure, she was flooded with images that swarmed her mind. A girl. A bloody girl in bandages. The image flickered with uncertainty as she tried to focus and see more. She saw herself with the girl. She nursed her. In the basement. The horrific visions were so familiar. She couldn't recall the girl's name, but she remembered the devastation and tragedy of her. She felt the girl's eyes burning through her, and her vengeance began to rot her from inside out. Then she realised that she wasn't different after all, and the disillusionment brought deep unconsciousness dressed in black.

She awoke in a different room, as though her environment had morphed around her, bringing her to her prison. The door rattled and clicked. She stood, and a face she recognised appeared through the opening door.

'Harry?' She whispered.

'Lisa…' He exclaimed, 'what's the matter with you?'

She looked at him sadly.

'I get it now…'


End file.
